The Benefields in Hong Kong.

Kyle took a break from work last week and met Hoyer and me for lunch in Kowloon. This was one of the days Hoyer sat for his portrait. (it is done by the way) Rare to have a good picture of the three of us! Hong Kong skyline is insane. SometimeS I forget that I live here, Discovery Bay is a world away from all the hustle and bustle of the city.

Portrait Update

Looking Good. Looking Real Good. ONE more sitting left...I hope. Hoyer is such  a good sport.

Life is precious.

My friend, Parker, was killed in a car accident today in Memphis. He was 31. This is his daughter that he had just dropped off at school. His wife and daughter need our prayers. Life is so precious.


So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
Matthew 24 verse 44

Handmade Hong Kong

We had our own festival in Discovery Bay  this Sunday. Vendors from all over HK were selling their handmade items.Hoyer got his face painted, a balloon dog made and a paw print on his face.   The painter asked what he like and we said dogs,so that is what he got. He touched it once, as you can see, but then he forgot about it.

Happy Birthday MK

Today is Mary Katharine's Birthday! Hoyer made her a special card with markers.  Thank goodness for washable markers!!

This is Hoyer saying "cheese"

Lets take out all the markers

More markers on his body than the paper!

It rained on our parade.

The Mid-Atumn Festival fun was rained out, but we made it out the next day to play and celebrate  and play in the plaza. 

Mui Wo and Tai O- A picture is worth 1,000 words

Portrait

Hoyer is having his portrait painted, this was day one. He did really well sitting and we will go back a few more times until it is perfect.  Suckers and lots of goldfish seem to do the trick.  

Mid-Autumn Festival

We are getting ready for the Mid- Autumn Festival in the Benefield household! Hoyer had a lantern that lasted 5 seconds and we all enjoyed reading about and tasting the traditional food of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Mooncake! We will celebrate with friends at our beach and watch the moon rise in all its fullness while the kids play and adults drink and eat. Sounds like my kind of holiday. All business have Thursday off...including KPMG, so we are thrilled to have an extra family day thrown the mix!

A quick Google search revealed the following about the festival:

The Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, which is usually around late September or early October in the Gregorian calendar. It is a date that parallels the autumnal equinox of the solar calendar, when the moon is supposedly at its fullest and roundest. The traditional food of this festival is the mooncake, of which there are many different varieties.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the few most important holidays in the Chinese calendar, the others being Chinese New Year and Winter Solstice, and is a legal holiday in several countries. Farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season on this date. Traditionally on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes and pomelos under the moon together. Accompanying the celebration, there are additional cultural or regional customs, such as:

• Putting pomelo rinds on one's head
• Carrying brightly lit lanterns, lighting lanterns on towers, floating sky lanterns
• Burning incense in reverence to deities including Chang'e (Chinese: 嫦娥; pinyin: Cháng'é)
• Planting Mid-Autumn trees
• Collecting dandelion leaves and distributing them evenly among family members
• Fire Dragon Dances
• In Taiwan, since the 1980s, barbecuing meat outdoors has become a widespread way to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival.^[2][3]

Shops selling mooncakes before the festival often display pictures of Chang'e floating to the moon.

Searching for Crabs

The boys look for crabs under rocks on the beach in Discovery Bay